Nigerian football officials charged with $9.5m fraud

Abuja Three Nigerian football officials have been charged with fraud after allegedly diverting $9.5 million in FIFA grants for personal use, the country's anti-corruption unit said Thursday.
Christopher Andekin, Jafaru Fadanari Mamza, and Rajan Zaka allegedly committed the crime in 2015, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said in a statement.
"The money was a grant given by the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA, for the development of football in Nigeria," it added.
EFCC lawyer Steve Odiase told reporters outside the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja that the case had been adjourned to a further hearing on November 28.
The body's spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, told AFP separately that the defendants pleaded not guilty, and were given bail on condition they surrendered their passports and paid a five-million-naira ($13,755, 12,000-euro) surety.
Andekin is the director of administration and finance at the NFF while Mamza heads the finance and accounts department. Zaka is a cashier.
The court case is the latest to hit the embattled NFF, which has been embroiled in a leadership struggle for control that has brought Nigeria to the brink of FIFA sanctions.
Football's governing body and its equivalent in Africa, CAF, have called for calm and reforms to heal the rifts in the running of the sport in Nigeria.

Recent attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria

 A look at recent major attacks in Nigeria attributed to the radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram:

Jan. 20: Boko Haram claims responsibility for a series of coordinated bombings and gun battles around the city of Kano that kill at least 143 people.

Dec. 25, 2011: Boko Haram claims responsibility for an attack on a Catholic church in Madalla near Nigeria's capital and assaults elsewhere in the country that kill at least 42 people.

Dec. 22-24, 2011: Sect members fight with police and military forces around the city of Damaturu, leaving at least 61 people dead.

Nov. 4, 2011: Sect members bomb government buildings and shoot their way through the city of Damaturu, killing more than 100 people, while bombs and a suicide attack in Maiduguri leave 4 dead.

Aug. 26, 2011: A sect member detonates a car loaded with explosives at the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja, killing 25 people and wounding more than 100 others.

June 16, 2011: A car loaded with explosives detonates at the federal police headquarters in Abuja, killing at least two people. Police first call the attack a suicide bombing, but later deny it.

April 9, 2011: Gunmen from the sect set fire to the Maiduguri International Hotel and kill a politician ahead of local elections.

April 8, 2011: A bomb allegedly planted by the sect explodes at an election office in Suleja in Niger state, killing 16 people.

Jan. 28, 2011: Gunmen with the sect shoot and kill the leading candidate for governor in Borno state along with six others in his entourage.

Dec. 31, 2010: A bomb allegedly planted by the sect explodes at a crowded and popular outdoor beer garden at a military barracks in Abuja, killing at least four people.

Dec. 24, 2010: A series of bombs allegedly planted by the group explode in the central Nigerian city of Jos, killing as many as 80 people.

Sept. 7, 2010: Gunmen with the sect free about 700 inmates from a Bauchi federal prison.

July 2009: About 700 people die after sect members riot and a security crackdown hits Maiduguri, the sect's spiritual home.